The Problem: Caregivers of those with dementia are tasked with conducing a diverse range of activities to support loved ones. They need technology tools to support them in caring for their loved ones in innovative ways.

The Challenge: To design and pitch technology-based solutions that have the potential to lighten the burden that falls on family caregivers, particularly by helping them to coordinate the demanding tasks and the complex networks of relationships involved with caring for others.

The Advantage: This inaugural NCHICA event will connect you with other innovators and industry veterans in the Triangle, NC area. Food and awards totaling $4,500 to the top designs will be provided. Tickets are just $10 for students and $90 for industry professionals. Sign-up today as space is limited

Students, clinicians, programmers, hackers, entrepreneurs, and caregiver advocates will gather and team up at Quintiles to compete in a design race to improve public health. Will you be there?

The winning team will design and pitch a viable and realistic solution to improve quality of life of caregivers of the elderly in NC.

Patients Like Me is a health data-sharing platform that is transforming the way patients manage their own conditions. Sally Okun, VP Advocacy, Policy & Patient Safety at Patients Like Me visited Get Social Health to talk about how they want to change the way industry conducts research and improve patient care. The numbers of PatientsLikeMe.com are impressive:

300,000 members

2,300+ conditions

50+ published research studies

25 million data points about disease

Numbers aside, Sally shared the Patients Like Me mission to help patients connect in a peer-to-peer network. Through their mutual sharing and support patients can also share their personal health data with researchers and pharma companies to help find health solutions and improve outcomes. Listen to the podcast or catch specific moments by following the time stamps below:

[00:00] Introduction[00:50] Patients online[02:15] “Dr. Google: What is “Patients Like Me?[05:00] Getting from Patients Like Me to medical research[05:58] Results: Epilepisy seizure metering[06:50] How do patients share their data with their physicians?[08:01] Are physicians using this data?[08:50] Seeking balance of data overwhelm vs. data useability[11:50] 320,000 patients in database, 40,000 Multiple Sclerosis patients[13:15] Participation in pharma research[15:58] Patient benefit for participating in Patients Like Me[18:15] Impact of “connectedness”[18:37] Caregivers in Patients Like Me[21:43] Moderation by clinical specialists?[26:50] Persona based design for PatientsLikeMe.com community[25:32] Closed community sharing or social sharing?[28:05] Hospital private communities compared to Patients Like Me[30:38] What are the biggest misconceptions about online patient communities?[33:15] HIPAA[33:30] Is Patients Like Me growing?[35:50] Wellness apps[36:30] Demographics of Patients Like Me[38:45] Patient sharing is critical
40:05 Social Media Tip: Phyllis Khare “4 Ways to increase your online reach”